“FUMBBL Minors 1600TW V-4: Round 2

The sun shone down and a pleasant breeze blew over the pitch; it was the perfect day for a blood bowl match. Nearly 40,000 fans had packed into the stadium to watch as the lizardmen of Fiesty Reptile Crew and the amazons of Love is a Two-Way Street battled to see which team would continue forward in this tournament. The lizardmen won the kick-off and elected to kick, rather than receive, and set up a defensive perimeter with their saurui, protecting the fragile skinks. The amazons set up conservatively, attempting to minimize too much direct contact with the lizardmen while still providing an impenetrable shield for the lizardmen. The kick when up, the fans began cheering, and the ball came down in the middle of the amazon half; there was a blood bowl game under way.

Part of the amazon strategy included Star Player Helmut Wulf and his chainsaw, as the pair made the opening blitz of the match. The two were unable to pierce the hide of the saurus for any real injury. The rest of the amazons gathered up the ball and retreated slightly to give the lizardmen less of a chance to get close to the ball. Slowly the amazons surged forward, as the lizardmen did their best in inflict injuries upon them. One such injury was a foul which outright killed Helmut Wulf. Within moments the lizardmen had the amazons surrounded, but cool heads prevailed, as lizardmen began leaving the pitch, both by knockout and via a push into the crowd. Without a clear path to the goal line the amazons attempted a breakout play with half of the team while the other half attempted to tie up the saurui. Though this play was successful, the lizardmen were still able to partially counter and place large, scaly obstacles in the way of the amazonian advancement. Within scoring distance, time quickly ticking away, the amazons set up one last defensive holdout, hoping to prevent a counter score by the lizardmen. This was the point where everything went wrong.

The amazon blitzer Sarah-Six-Speed was smashed down, requiring the immediate attention of the team apothecary, who was able to patch her up in order to return to the match. This feat surprised everyone, including Sarah herself. The lizardmen sent in Icksis, their Tackle skink, who threw a 1d blitz on the amazon ball carrier, setting her down, and recovering the ball. The plan had backfired, and there was no way for the amazons to score this first half. This match began to look as though it may belong to the lizardmen... BUT NO!!! From out of nowhere the amazons mount a counter offensive in which the skink and ball were surfed, and the ball being thrown back onto the pitch, still within range. Blitzer Noelle dodged away and into the endzone while rookie linewomen Malicious Melissa performed an all-star series of dodges before picking up the ball and tossing it to Noelle for the Touchdown (5/5/4/4/2/RR/5/6). The stadium erupted in pandemonium.

The lizardmen set up to receive the kick with the intentions of attempting to get the ball to one of the skinks and push said skink through to the goalline, but the amazonian fans in the stands, still celebrating the seemingly impossible touchdown, thought it would be more prudent to instead huck a rock at one of the skinks. There were a few more blocks, but the first half ended with the amazons leading 1-0.

The start of the second half saw the lizards receiving, and both teams still fielding 11 players each. The amazons kicked the ball deep into the endzone, and with a bounce, the ball stayed in the endzone. While the ball was traveling through the air, another object was traveling through the air: a rock. Headed in the direction of the lizardmen. This rock caught a saurus squarely in the back of the head, knocking him out. The apothecary was called to revive the saurus as to prevent the amazons from taking an early player advantage. The lizardmen got control of the ball and began advancing forward, concentrating on making blocks while keeping the ball secure. When the lizardmen had advanced just beyond the mid-way line, amazon blitzer Noelle killed one of their saurui guarding the ball carrier on an assisted blitz, but no amazon could get a hand on the skink holding the ball. The amazons continually surrounded the lizard cage but they were simply swatted away. When the lizardmen did make a break for the endzone it looked as though their equalizing touchdown would be uncontested, until blitzer Alissa dodged away from the kroxigor, dodged past another saurus, and blitzed down the ball carrier, injuring the skink in the process. The cheers from the amazonian fans were shortlived, as the ball bounced into the awaiting hands of a saurus who ran in the tying touchdown. There were a few more blocks by the amazons, but it had been decided, this match was going into overtime.

10 amazons remained to take the pitch against the 9 lizardmen, as the lizardmen lost the coin toss, and the amazons elected to receive. It was now do or die time for both of these teams. The amazons jumped off of the line a moment before the ball was kicked into the air, and for a second looked as though they were about to attempt to make the quick score, but in the end made a conservative decision to collect the ball and control it in their half of the field, while sending two players forward towards the goal. The lizardmen began overtime by killing another amazon player, this time a linewomen, and with a block. Making an aggressive attempt toward the sidelines the amazons pushed forward, but the lizardmen again surrounded the team, placing several skinks between the ball and the goalline. The odds of going forward were poor, so the amazons opened up a new route through the saurui. A series of blocks pushed Lulu clear of all defenders, while Vicki rushed forward and handed off the ball to Lulu who dashed towards the goal. The remaining members attempted to tie up as many lizardmen as possible. Skink Icksis made a valiant series of dodges in an attempt to stop Vicki, but in the end tripped over his own feet. Blitzing away the final defender, Vicki stepped into the endzone, clenching victory for the amazons.
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This match really had it all, and even though it was a minor tournament match, it felt, and was played by both coaches, as though this were the final of the Fumbbl Cup. This match had crazy plays, TV management, teams sporting benches, laughs, comradery, and above all else, true sportsmanship. There were a few turns in which coach JellyBelly could have pressed the Timeout button, to his advantage, but he did not. Furthermore, both coaches cheered their opponent on, celebrating the tense game play, and the strategies deployed in match. This match took 2.5 hours to play, but it was worth every minute. I have not had a match this enjoyable in a while, and this one felt more like a friendly table top match than anything else.

As far as the final score, it really came down to some awesome die rolls, especially the dodge rolls. I doubted that we could out muscle the lizardmen, so we instead attempted to out maneuver them, which is difficult when several of the saurui are sporting Break Tackle. Neither of the touchdowns were the result of a plan, as both were reactionary to the defensive situation coach JellyBelly put us in. This match could have easily gone either way. Much respect to JellyBelly, for his time and his ability as a coach, and I look forward to a rematch.

Good game.”